The Real Deal New York

The Oculus cost $4B – here’s why

From the April issue: Architect Santiago Calatrava envisioned an elegant, bird-like PATH station for the high-profile World Trade Center site, but by some accounts what he got was an extravagant symbol of government inefficiency.

Indeed, public perception of the World Trade Center Oculus — which opened last month at the corner of Liberty and Church streets — has been largely soured by its estimated $4 billion price tag that the Port Authority has yet to back up with final numbers. But since Calatrava revealed his design for the station in 2004, the price of the project has ballooned to roughly twice its initial estimation. [more]